other connect the dots

Keep On Rockin’ in a Free (Trade) World

So you wanna be a rock ‘n’ roll star? Then listen now, you’re gonna need an axe; axe being a fitting euphemism for guitar since you’re gonna need some wood ….

WOOD (Acoustic)

An acoustic’s vibrating wood transmits sound. Cedar and spruce are most common, but Luthiers Mercantile International (LMI) of Windsor, California, offers a world of choices, from Madagascar Rosewood to Malaysian Blackwood.

Levy’s Leathers of Winnipeg, Canada, makes a wide variety of guitar straps—from faux tiger print to RatFink—and sells them in a wide variety of places—from DreamAmps in Turkey to Room 2 Rock in Bahrain.

STRINGS

Coachella, California-based Ernie Ball is the unquestioned string king, with a stable of devoted players/icons (Clapton, Page, Slash) that includes Paul McCartney, who’s used them since he was doing heaven-knows-what in the early ’60s.